Thanks for your comment! I wonder, though, if you read any of the other comments, particularly Ann's? She and I had a discussion on just this point - both Severus and Sirius fail to be perfectly loving, and they fail in opposing ways. I think Severus has a lot to learn about acknowledging and expressing his emotions; he has survived, to date, by trying to deny them, and it results in a lot of misplaced anger. Sound like anyone else we know? (hint: Harry). Sirius, on the other hand, though he has all sorts of warmth of feeling for the people in 'his pack', is remarkably callous to outsiders and incredibly thoughtless all round. He, too, could have had a lot to learn, had he survived. His redeeming trait was that he was willing to risk all for those he loved, Harry included.
The examples you give of 'true Christian love' are interesting. I must confess, I don't really agree with any of them; I think there have been exactly four people, so far, who have shown sacrificial love and/or love for enemies. They are Lily (top of the list), Dumbledore, Hermione, and, following her, Severus. I am putting these people in order; I do *not* think Severus, on the evidence we have, understands compassion for an enemy or self-sacrifice anywhere near as well as the other three. But the fact remains that he *is* the only person we see in canon exercising care for an enemy. And he is not without feeling, however much he may try to deny it. I thought his compassion for Narcissa (in the "Spinner's End" chapter) and Draco (in the sectumsempra scene) were remarkable.
You say, "On all these - so very different - occasions the person named first is doing what I'd call "good" to the other. It is making life better for the other - by helping him to cope with his fairs or his grief, by teaching him to control his temper, by making him understand himself better, by guarding him from doing a big mistake, whatever." I do see your point, but I have trouble seeing how, for example, Minerva McGonagall (irritably) warning Harry about losing his temper with Umbridge is being more loving or helpful than Severus struggling to teach him Occlumency. *Both* of them are trying to guard the boy from present danger by getting him to control himself, and *both* of them fail resoundingly. I find some of your other examples problematic, as well. But I do see where you are coming from and - as I said - I acknowledged that main point both in the essay itself and in the conversation with Ann.
Your last question is really interesting! I have come to the conclusion that Severus is actually the heir of Gryffindor; he *should* have been in Gryffindor but is not there for exactly the same reason Harry is not in Slytherin - he got the impression it was a house full of bullying blowhards, and refused to be placed with James Potter and Sirius Black. I think Rowling misled us all (for awhile) by comparing James and Severus to Harry and Draco. It was an accurate comparison, but Harry (and all of us readers) misinterpreted it; it's Severus who was like Harry (a ragged, possibly ignorant outsider picked on by the cool kids), and James who was like Draco (a wealthy, popular pureblood bully).
Which brings me to my last point - about Severus's lack of emotional intelligence. Would you say Harry had any emotional intelligence? Have you noticed how often these two are described in exactly the same words? How often they seem to have the same reactions to similar situations? That's why I am reading Severus, in a way, through what we know of Harry.
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Date: 2007-06-19 03:54 am (UTC)The examples you give of 'true Christian love' are interesting. I must confess, I don't really agree with any of them; I think there have been exactly four people, so far, who have shown sacrificial love and/or love for enemies. They are Lily (top of the list), Dumbledore, Hermione, and, following her, Severus. I am putting these people in order; I do *not* think Severus, on the evidence we have, understands compassion for an enemy or self-sacrifice anywhere near as well as the other three. But the fact remains that he *is* the only person we see in canon exercising care for an enemy. And he is not without feeling, however much he may try to deny it. I thought his compassion for Narcissa (in the "Spinner's End" chapter) and Draco (in the sectumsempra scene) were remarkable.
You say, "On all these - so very different - occasions the person named first is doing what I'd call "good" to the other. It is making life better for the other - by helping him to cope with his fairs or his grief, by teaching him to control his temper, by making him understand himself better, by guarding him from doing a big mistake, whatever." I do see your point, but I have trouble seeing how, for example, Minerva McGonagall (irritably) warning Harry about losing his temper with Umbridge is being more loving or helpful than Severus struggling to teach him Occlumency. *Both* of them are trying to guard the boy from present danger by getting him to control himself, and *both* of them fail resoundingly. I find some of your other examples problematic, as well. But I do see where you are coming from and - as I said - I acknowledged that main point both in the essay itself and in the conversation with Ann.
Your last question is really interesting! I have come to the conclusion that Severus is actually the heir of Gryffindor; he *should* have been in Gryffindor but is not there for exactly the same reason Harry is not in Slytherin - he got the impression it was a house full of bullying blowhards, and refused to be placed with James Potter and Sirius Black. I think Rowling misled us all (for awhile) by comparing James and Severus to Harry and Draco. It was an accurate comparison, but Harry (and all of us readers) misinterpreted it; it's Severus who was like Harry (a ragged, possibly ignorant outsider picked on by the cool kids), and James who was like Draco (a wealthy, popular pureblood bully).
Which brings me to my last point - about Severus's lack of emotional intelligence. Would you say Harry had any emotional intelligence? Have you noticed how often these two are described in exactly the same words? How often they seem to have the same reactions to similar situations? That's why I am reading Severus, in a way, through what we know of Harry.
Thanks again for your comment.